Non-volatile memory is employed in a wide variety of electronic devices such as, for example, mobile handsets, cellular phones, personal digital assistants (PDA's), pagers and handheld personal computers. The non-volatile memory in these devices contain firmware, application software, data, and configuration information that makes the devices operational, and may be provided by the manufacturers of the electronic devices, by system operators of telecommunication carrier networks, or by third parties developers. If defects are found in such firmware/software, or if new features are to be added to such devices, the software and/or firmware in the affected electronic devices may need to be updated. Errors and/or interruptions that may occur during the updating of such operational code may leave the electronic device in a partly or completely non-functional state. To avoid this problem, present methods of updating such software and/or firmware involve returning the electronic device to the manufacturer, to the system operator, or to the third party, so that an update of memory contents may be performed using a direct connection to the electronic device. This is both costly and inconvenient to both the user of the electronic device, and to one performing the update.
Configuration parameters and other information for an electronic device may be stored in the non-volatile memory of such devices, and information about the device capabilities, the hardware, software and manufacturer of the device, and particulars for a given instance of the device in a network may be stored in databases used by, for example, device management and customer service operations. Such databases may be accessible to device management and customer service operations through database access mechanisms using, for example, structured query language (SQL) or similar database management tools.
Updates to firmware and/or software in an electronic device may be developed by a number of parties including, for example, the manufacturer of the electronic device, the provider of services of a communication network accessed by the electronic device, or a third party. Users may subscribe to multiple network-based information services, and may receive numerous messages at the electronic device concerning information available, scheduled events, news, and the like. The volume of such information may impair the user's ability to maximize enjoyment and usefulness such services.
Electronic devices such as, for example, cellular phones and wireless enabled personal digital assistants are highly capable. A particular user of such a device, however, is limited by the common functionality offered to all users of a particular make, model and/or version of device. Customization of device capabilities is complex or not unavailable, and users/subscribers may not be aware of, or may find it difficult to learn how to perform personalization of their mobile device. This is particularly true of mass market devices. Customers wishing to tailor the features and capabilities of a device to their needs and wants may seek help from, for example, a customer care representative of the device manufacturer or the provider of wireless network service, but may find that support is poor or non-existent. Point-of-sale centers for such devices also frequently do not provide personalization services. Customer care representatives may be unable to determine what can be personalized in the particular device of the user/subscriber and/or may be untrained and/or unable to help the user/subscriber with such services.
In many cases, personalization of electronic devices may involve firmware, software application, and/or configuration parameter updates. The vast majority of users/subscribers have no idea what is involved, and are not capable of determining the impact such updates on other software applications, on device firmware and/or features of the electronic device. In some cases, the electronic device of a user/subscriber may not be functioning properly, which can complicate any upgrade/customization effort. Firmware, application software, and/or configuration parameters may be out of date. Customer care representatives may be not know or be equipped to determine the effects of a particular update on each of the vast array of electronic devices in use, and may be of little help in furthering user progress in customizing the functionality and user interface of those electronic devices.
During an actual update to firmware, software applications, and/or configuration parameters in an electronic device, a user/subscriber may find themselves staring at the device, waiting for the update activity to complete. Many users/subscribers are anxious about personally performing an update, and may find this a stressful yet boring task. In some cases, no indication is provided on the electronic device to show the progress of such update activities, and the user/subscriber is left uneasily wondering whether the update is proceeding normally, or whether the update has gone awry and left the device non-functional. In general, the user/subscriber experience during firmware, software application, and device configuration updates is very poor.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.